( Log Out / “The Murderers Are Among Us”, or in the original “Die Mörder Sind Unter Uns”, is the arresting title of the very first German film to be made after the Second World War. In fact, the original ending was supposed to show one such example of that retribution in blood, but the producers deemed it too powerful and didn't want the responsibility of creating a mob willing to do it for real. Als Kulisse diente ihm Berlin, die Stadt, die zu jener Zeit in Trümmern lag.
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An uneasy and awkward co-existence develops into a deeper bond between the two, though Susanne is unable to understand why Hans seems so tormented to the point that he can't practice his profession and drowns himself in drinking. Wolfgang Staudte crafted his story to be released in 1946, just a year after World War II had ended. Expressionism is used to excellent effect in The Murderers are Among Us, with the goal of representing the perspectives of the main characters as they struggle in the rubble of post-war Berlin. It is shot with impressive expressionist cinematography. She discovers that her apartment is occupied by a former Wehrmacht doctor, Hans Mertens. A physician and former German officer, Mertens is haunted by the wartime execution of Polish civilians, which he did nothing to prevent. "Murderers are among us" is so much important historically, made after the end of WWII, among the ruins of Berlin, certainly influencing other masterpieces shot in Berlin a few years later. Murderers Are Among Us, The (Moerder sind unter uns, Die), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Murderers_Are_Among_Us&oldid=958131673, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 22 May 2020, at 02:53. Critically ranked in the top ten of Germany's 100 most important films, Wolfgang Staudte's THE MURDERERS ARE AMONG US is a haunting film about personal accountability and the process of healing in post war Nazi Germany. Source: http://wolfguenterthiel.blogspot.com. 1946. It’s only those expressionistic touches that give this film a backbone. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading. Er stellt hier erstmals- noch vor Gründung der BRD und den Ausschwitz-Prozessen- die Frage nach der Schuld der Täter, die noch frisch war, ganz frisch. Thus, Staudte ended up making his feature for DEFA, the studio that would go on to become East Germany’s monopolistic state-owned production house. The 1946 film’s style also bore many hallmarks of Lang’s and other Weimar directors’ famed Expressionism: montage effects; light and shade; and jagged landscapes (though in Staudte’s case the jaggedness was a product of war rather than inventive set design). This film could have been completely polarizing, starting an uprising against those that partook in the Holocaust to acquire revenge. It has some cool touches of expressionism, but it doesn’t really leave a good taste in my mouth as a post war film. Rather than explain further, I’ll let some images (that I found via google image search) speak for themselves: Superb camera and montage technique! It was the first film of its kind and it set the benchmark so high and I don't think any of the other films reached that height. She meets Dr. Hans Mertens, who is haunted by his deeds during the war, especially since his commanding officer shows no remorse. Unable to add item to List. Original 1946 poster for “The Murderers Are Among Us”. One part romance, one part thriller, and all parts beautifully crafted, "Die Mörder sind unter uns" is an amazing film that shows what happens to good people when they have to rebuild their lives after traumatic events. | defa@german.umass.edu | +1-413-545-6681 — Subscribe to our Newsletter! The melancholy of the film is derived from its main characters, a female concentration camp survivor who returns to her old apartment to find it occupied by an ex-military doctor. He leads Brückner away under the pretense of going to a bar and takes him along a purportedly shorter route, through the rubble and abandoned buildings of Berlin. It is equally hard for the photographer Suzanne Wallner to forget her past. This movie resonates with symbolism and is imbued with an almost dream-like quality. The Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Memoirs. It was a work that confronted head-on the country’s recent Nazi past, depicting some characters struggling to come to terms with wartime trauma and others managing to escape retribution for the terrible crimes they had … I'll give you all of that. Brückner tells her that Mertens is a doctor, but Mertens is reluctant to help. The last thing the world needed at the time was more violence. Some of these Expressionist effects can be seen in the clip below: By making “The Murderers” for DEFA, Staudte helped the fledgling East German state to steal a significant march on its western rival when it came to cinematography—there would be no West German film to equal Staudte’s feature for several years. Awards Zudem sehenswert, da Wolfgang Staudte hier den ersten deutschen Trümmerfilm und sogleich den ersten deutschen Spielfilm der Nachkriegszeit präsentiert. Having just seen this movie for the first time, I'll agree with some of the other comments. Die Rahmenhandlung spielt meist in den Trümmern zerbombter Städte und wirft einen halb-dokumentarischen Blick auf die Situation im Nachkriegsdeutschland. That being said, the relationship between Hans and Susanne is SO BAD -- why even bother including it if it's as nonsensical and forced as it is in this movie? It has some cool touches of expressionism, but it doesn’t really leave a good taste in my mouth as a post war film. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Together the two try to move past their experiences during WWII. While a more violent end might have felt more satisfying, the message of a new German mentality was more appropriate. Instead, he spends his days drinking. Dr. Hans Mertens is a former German officer, unable to live with the guilt of what he and his former comrades have done. This was the very first film made in post-World War II Germany, and it is ranked as one of the most important German films ever made. “Stark, symbolic, and stunning.” —12th San Francisco Film Noir Festival 2014, “The picture that marks the birth of the postwar German film industry!” —Artkino, 1948, “Deeply moving performance!” —Newsweek, 1948, “Marked by superb camera and montage technique!” —Variety, 1948, “Thrilling finale!” —The New Yorker, 1948, “The score and photography are splendid!” —Hollywood Reporter, 1948, “A picture you will not want to miss!” —CBS, 1948, “Excellent supporting performances!” —New York Post, 1948, “Great DEFA cinema from Babelsberg.” —arte, “Visually reminiscent of the best of German expressionism, it's a socially conscious examination of German guilt.” —Glenn Erickson, DVD Savant, “Directed by one of the most important postwar filmmakers.” —Ralf Schenk, film historian, “A film that directly deals with the weight of the Nazis on the collective German psyche.” —Donato Totaro, OffScreen.com, “The Murderers are Among Us is a haunting and indelible film on the process of healing and reconciling with personal accountability.” —filmref.com, “With The Murderers Are among Us, German cinema had announced its return to world screens. © Letterboxd Limited. I had to transplant the tape to another cassette, and even then the old tape had so much drop-out it was barely watchable. Cinema in Democratizing Germany: Reconstructing National Identity After Hitler. MURDERERS Among US is the first film that was made in Germany after the end or WW 2. German film reacting to the evil their own people had done during the war. There's no dialogue, just jazzy, bouncy, upbeat piano music that contrasts sharply with the bleak B&W image. Preserving this list for posterity as it disappeared. It is deeply and masterfully immersed in the aesthetic traditions of German Expressionism and /or Film Noir: unusual angles and picture planes, extreme lighting effects, twisted stairs, bombed-out buildings that look like jagged fingers against the sky (it was shot in the ruins of Berlin), a haunted, tormented protagonist, stark black and white atmosphere, and, above all, shadows. Harvard Film PhD Program: Narrative Films, Eastern European Movies at easterneuropeanmovies.com, All Time Top 3,000 Films by Allan Fish (RIp), Scenes from the Class Struggle on Celluloid: A Watchlist. Bedrückend ergreifend und bedrückend schön gefilmt. It is tacked on and orchestrated so cleanly and quickly that you just don't believe a word of it. The filmmaking is very beautiful. When she returns from the camps and finds the alcoholic misanthrope Dr Mertens squatting in her flat, she naturally falls heels over head in love with him. But that is how the entire story plays out, one that is effective emotionally while lacking a lot structurally. There is an honesty and a commitment to artistic expression that the west wouldn’t rediscover for a decade. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Especially compared to something like The Third Man.
But first he must confront his former commanding officer, now a prosperous and respected businessman, over a wartime atrocity. Meanwhile, Susanne meets with Ferdinand Brückner (Arno Paulsen). This leads Dr. Mertens back into his past and into a dark secret that Dr. Mertens is carrying within himself. THE MURDERERS ARE AMONG US is a compassionate portrait of hope, resilience, and personal atonement. Part of the Series: Reel Women in East German Film. Good man. Healing such injuries requires compassion, patience, and love. This movie is a great look at post war Germany, it appears to be more from the German perspectives.
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